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Jan 15, 2013

Washington, DC — Having made U.S. Senate rules reform a top priority, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) today announced details of a paid media campaign ahead of the Senate vote on rules reform expected next week. As part of their over $300,000 paid media campaign on behalf of Senate rules reform, CWA announced:

Sunday Show & Cable TV Buy: Titled, "The U.S. Senate is Broken — But We Can Fix It," a new CWA television advertisement will run during the January 20th Sunday morning broadcasts of ABC's "This Week," CBS's "Face the Nation," and NBC's "Meet the Press." Additionally, the ad will run on cable throughout this week of January 14th. The script reads:

"As climate change threatens the world we leave to our children, and good U.S. jobs move overseas, time in the Senate ticks by.

"As women earn less than men for the same jobs, time in the Senate ticks by.

"It keeps ticking by with no results. Because the system is broken.

But we can fix it and make the Senate work for us again, if our Senators vote to end the silent filibuster and for common-sense reforms."

Major Escalation of Online Paid Efforts — HuffPost Politics "Takeover" & Creative Petition Drive: CWA also announced an escalation of online paid media efforts to support Senate rules reform. On January 17th, CWA's rules reform campaign will "take over" the Huffington Post Politics section, with ads that ask users to support efforts to "reduce global warming" or "create good jobs now" or "pass real immigration reform." When the user tries to access the "click here" button to take action, it moves around, making it impossible to access. Eventually, the screen changes to, "Sorry, the silent filibuster makes it impossible to move forward" and then provides a link to a real petition around ending the silent filibuster and supporting rules reform:

"Tell [Senator Name] to support strong rules reform that ends the silent filibuster."

CWA's paid media campaign also will include actions in targeted states in the near future — additional details to be announced.

CWA's expanded paid media efforts fit alongside the escalated grassroots activity organized by the Fix the Senate Now coalition. This coalition of over 50 national organizations, of which CWA is a leading member, supports the S. Res. 4 package of reforms introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Senator Tom Udall (D-NM).